


Babysitting

by miera



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Baby Fic, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-05
Updated: 2010-08-05
Packaged: 2017-10-10 23:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel-of-sorts to Gigi's "Labour Day" and The Grrrl's "Turning The Page" Pregnant!Sam story. Three months after delivery, Daniel baby sits for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Babysitting

"Are you sure about this?" Sam asked me for at least the fifth time in the last five minutes. She picked up her purse and stood there, worrying the leather with her fingers.

"Sam," I sighed. "It'll be fine. Seriously. Now get going."

She didn't move, but I could see that the creases in her forehead were getting worse, not better. I tried not to sigh again. "You just fed Caroline. She'll probably sleep for a couple of hours. Plenty of time for you and Pete to eat a hot meal somewhere outside of this house."

Sam fidgeted but she took one step towards the door. Progress. "What if she wakes up?"

"I'll try to get her back to sleep."

"What if she has gas?"

"I'll try burping her." I glanced down at the slightly ratty t-shirt I had worn for that express reason. "I don't care about this shirt much anyway."

That got a glimmer of a smile. The first time I ever fed Caroline, she managed to spit up all over one of my favorite button down shirts. I threw the shirt away rather than attempt to get the stain out, although I hadn't told Sam that part. Then I had to take an extremely long shower, because Jack was unnerved by the idea of climbing into bed with me when I had baby puke anywhere on me. Since then, I'd learned the dry towel over the shoulder trick when dealing with burping and also drooling. I felt I'd gotten pretty adept at being around Caroline, considering I was just an uncle.

Then again, I'd never been alone with her before.

Great, now she's got me doing it.

Sam's prodigious mind was still running through possible emergency "awake baby" scenarios, although she had taken two more steps towards the front door. "What if she needs to be changed?"

Ah, the one thing I hadn't actually done, although I'd seen Sam tackle the job. "Sam, after everything we've been though, do you really think changing a diaper is going to be too much for me?" I'd faced down the Goa'uld, any number of other aliens, hell, I'd *died*. I could handle some baby poop. If necessary. Although hopefully not.

She stopped again. Not good. "Hey I thought I could handle it too, but-" Fortunately, Pete walked in before Sam could tell me whatever scary diaper tale she was about to impart.

"Honey, come on. We don't want to miss our chance to get out of here while the Empress is asleep."

Thank God, reinforcements. I held up my hands. "Sam, you're going to be just a few minutes away. You have your cell phones. I will call you at the first sign of intestinal gas from either of us, ok? Just go have lunch."

Sam hesitated again. I knew this had to be hard. She or Pete had always been with their daughter from the day she was born. They were leaving her with another person for the first time, and all of Sam's instincts were on edge at the thought. This despite the fact that she had been complaining to me not three days ago that if she didn't get out of the house for a few minutes and think about something other than baby stuff, she'd go crazy.

And they were leaving her with me. Uncle Daniel. Not exactly a stranger. And I had made quite a sacrifice of my free Saturday afternoon to be here. It had taken a lot of effort last night to convince Jack that he didn't need to be here with me, "to keep me company." He meant it affectionately, but translated into English that meant "drive Daniel nuts." In the end, and after quite a bit of quality time in the shower, I got Jack to agree he would need to spend this afternoon watching tv and napping. Mostly to recover his strength after that shower.

So here I was, tired but ready to shoulder the burden of a currently- sleeping three month old for a whole two hours for Sam's sake. If she would ever let me.

I looked at Pete imploringly. "Please get her out of here. Before CJ- er-Caroline wakes up."

Oh crap. This is what happens when I think about Jack too much.

I could see Pete wince out of the corner of my eye. "I'm gonna go start the car." For a tough city cop, Pete sure knew when to run like hell.

Sam glared at me. "Her name is Caroline," she said, slowly and far more distinctly than a woman who hasn't slept in three months should be capable of.

"I know that-"

"You said-"

I held up my hands in surrender. "Sam, I'm sorry! It just slipped out."

Great, now she'd switched from fretful mother to warpath mother. "I know better than to expect Jack to stop but I expect more from you, Daniel."

I actually had to backpedal a step to get away from her. "I know! I just..." Sam was still staring, her eyes shooting sparks. I decided to try another tactic, since apologetic humility wasn't working. "Look, Sam, I'm trying. Really. But you know what it's like being around Jack. Come on, how many times did you or I slip and call Teal'c's symbiote 'Junior'?"

I saw some of the tension leave her shoulders. "There's no escaping it, is there?" she said, a bit overly tragic about this whole thing. As nicknames go, CJ was pretty good.

Certainly better than Plant Boy. Or Space Monkey. "What does Pete call her?"

Sam frowned. "Actually, he always calls her the Empress. Or baby. Baby girl. Sweetheart. I wonder..."

OK, it wasn't the exit I was originally hoping for, but Sam turned and headed for the car where Pete was waiting. Evidently she was thinking the same thing I was: that Pete actually liked "CJ" but knew better than to argue with a post-partum Sam. Or a regular Sam, for that matter.

The door closed behind her and I headed to the baby's room. I hoped Sam and Pete wouldn't spend their whole lunch date arguing.

The room was so full there was barely room for Caroline. I think half the Air Force and the entire Denver police department had sent gifts, which just about matched the amount from Jacob. Stuffed animals, toys, clothes, books, you name it. Pete joked once they had enough baby blankets to handle quintuplets. Then Sam threw a breast pump at him and he never mentioned it again.

Somewhere in another room was the box with all the gifts that couldn't be put out in public, from the other Tok'ra, even a crystal ball-thing from the Aasgard. No one was really sure what it did, but as Jack said, it's the thought that counts.

And of course, in the center of the room was the gorgeous, hand- carved wooden rocking horse the size of a Labrador. Leave it to Teal'c to one-up all of us in the gift department.

I leaned my arms on the side of the crib. The baby was sound asleep, stretched out in that boneless way that made me jealous every time I saw it. I wished I could sleep like that. She was in little white feetie pajamas with a duck sewn on the front. I reached down and gently brushed my fingers over her tiny head. Sam said she was getting to be very big, and I guess compared to how little she was at birth it probably seemed that way to Sam, but she still looked so small to me. Tiny. Fragile.

And precious. Very, very precious.

This was the real reason I didn't want Jack to be here while I was babysitting. I could stand here and stare and wonder over Caroline as long as I wanted to, without making him twitchy. No matter how many times we brushed over the subject of children, he never seemed to believe that deep down I didn't want a child of my own.

OK, he didn't believe it because part of me still did, and Jack knows me far too well. I just wish he understood the difference between the remnants of old dreams and active desire to alter the course of my - of *our* lives.

I ran through the litany of reasons again. Jack was too old. Hell, I was starting to feel too old. I was still going through the Stargate on missions. Neither one of us was ever going to be wholly out of danger. Jack was too important to our relations with the Asgaard to be put out to pasture totally.

Then there was Charlie. Jack's not a "let's talk about my feelings, honey" type of person, although he is an open book most of the time. As long as you know how to read him. He'd never said one word in the past year, not about Charlie, not about the memories that had to be haunting him throughout Sam's pregnancy. He worked hard to make sure his presence around Sam and Pete and the baby didn't cast some sort of pall over everyone. I knew he was doing it for Sam, to protect her and ensure that she was happy. With Jack, some things never change.

I walked over to the changing table. The shelves over it were stuffed full of books and animals, including the teddy bear I bought for Caroline. Jack and I went shopping for baby gifts together only once, and that was enough to see how hard this all was for him.

The bottom line was I don't think Jack could go through having another child. He's a tough old soldier but losing Charlie shattered him in a way none of us can understand. Not even me.

Then there's, well, me. Daniel and his Issues. Kidnapped-now-dead wife who was impregnated by another man, well, alien. Sort of. Kid is living in Omaland as a noncorporeal entity, which I used to do after I died. But then I came back-slash-was-kicked-out for bad behavior. Throw in my own dead parents, a lot of foster homes and, oh yeah, the ex-girlfriend also taken as a host... why am I not in therapy, again?

Oh right. I hate psychologists. Drug first, ask questions later. Real nice approach to medicine there.

I wanted children with Shau're. I wanted a lot of things with her, but ever since her death, with every year that passes, the possibility of having a child grew less and less likely. I'm not happy about it. It's always going to be one of the things I regret. But I can live with that.

I couldn't live without Jack. And I am happy about him.

It's not a bad deal, all things considered.

A small noise recalled me to my current duties. Two big blue eyes were blinking up at me in what almost appeared to be surprise.

"Hey CJ," I whispered, thankful that Sam was a few miles away right now.

The baby wriggled, that all-over body wriggling that comes from not having total motor control yet, and gurgled at me happily. She was smiling and my inner Jack voice pointed out she probably just had gas. I told inner Jack to shut up. I smiled back at her, a big, goofy, whole-face grin, but how could you not, faced with that kind of enthusiastic hello?

I picked her up carefully and sat down in the rocking chair with her cradled in my arms. I gave her my little finger and she clutched it, the strength of her reflexive grip surprising me as always. She was a strong little girl, alright. How could she not be with her genes? Strong and beautiful and mine to spoil rotten. Uncle's privilege.

I smiled again. "It's a pretty good deal, CJ." She stared up at me, blinking in wonder. "So, do you need a story so you can go back to sleep? How about How Mommy and Uncle Daniel Saved The World while Uncle Jack and Uncle Teal'c helped?"


End file.
